1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable telephone for conducting wireless telephonic communications, and especially to a telephone having an earphone, a microphone and a video camera that can be conveniently detached from and coupled with a main body of the telephone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional mobile phone 40 is shown in FIG. 5. The mobile phone 40 is primarily intended for two-way speech communication, and for this purpose the mobile phone 40 has a microphone 41 and a speaker 42. The mobile phone 40 also has a keypad 43 for controlling the operation thereof, and a display 44 for showing information to the user. During a telephone call, the user holds the mobile phone 40 next to his head, so that the speaker 42 is located adjacent the user's ear and the microphone 41 is located as close to the mouth as possible. However, the mobile phone 40 operates by using electromagnetic waves to receive and transmit signals, and certain medical opinion associates the proximity of electromagnetic waves with health problems in some users. Additionally, during a call it is practically impossible to use the keypad 43 to input data or to read information on the display 44. In cases when the user needs to use the keypad 43 and/or the display 44 also during a call, he/she must move the mobile phone 40 to an inconvenient position in which either the speaker 42 is too far from the ear or the microphone 41 is far from the mouth, or both.
Accordingly, mobile phones have been developed which provide the earphone and microphone mounted on a soft cable. One end of the soft cable is pluggable into a main body of the phone. In use, the main body can be positioned for easy use of a keypad and display thereof, while the earphone and the microphone are respectively adjacent to the user's ear and mouth. In addition, the main body is positioned relatively far from the user's head, thereby reducing exposure of electromagnetic waves thereto. However, the soft cable must generally be plugged into the main body at the beginning of each call, and must then be unplugged at the end of the call. These repeated operations can be unduly inconvenient. Furthermore, the soft cable is liable to become tangled, particularly when it is unplugged and has one more loose end.
In order to resolve these problems, another kind of mobile phone is disclosed in Chinese Patent No. 98203357.5. Referring to FIG. 6, a mobile phone 30 includes a main body 31, a detachable earphone 33, a detachable microphone 32, a data transmission cable 38, and a spring biased spool (not shown) housed in the main body 31. The microphone 32 and the earphone 33 are respectively mounted on two ends of a flexible metallic pipe 34. Opposite ends of the data transmission cable 38 connect with the metallic pipe 34 and the spring biased spool, respectively. The spring biased spool enables the data transmission cable 38 to be extended or retracted. A slot 36 is provided in a side wall of the main body 31, which allows the metallic pipe 34 to be located therein when the data transmission cable 38 is retracted. The phone 30 can reduce the user's exposure to electromagnetic waves, and the earphone 33 and the microphone 32 can be set in the phone 30 when not in use. However, the metallic pipe 34 must be long enough to span a distance between a user's ear and mouth, yet also short enough to be able to conveniently fit within the side wall of the main body 31. The earphone 33 and the microphone 32 are mounted on the one metallic pipe 34, and the length of the metallic pipe 34 is not adjustable. Nowadays, many mobile phones are so small as to make deployment of the metallic pipe 34 unsuitable or impractical. Furthermore, at the beginning of a call, the user must draw the metallic pipe 34 out from the slot 36 and manually adjust the positions of both the earphone 33 and the microphone 32. Similarly, at the finish of a call, the user must manually put the metallic pipe 34 back into the slot 36. These operations can be very inconvenient.
Therefore, a new mobile phone providing convenient use of an earphone and microphone thereof is desired.